JRU beats Mapua first NCAA Final Four matchup

JRU beats Mapua first NCAA Final Four matchup

by rick olivares with pic by jan dizon

The Jose Rizal University Heavy Bombers leaned on the heroics of an old hand and some new stars to defeat the Mapua Institute of Technology Cardinals 60-54 in the first stage of the stepladder format of the 86th Season of the NCAA at the San Juan Arena yesterday.

Former two-time Mythical Five Selection Marvin Hayes scored six points in the final 2:21 and contributed two defensive stops on the opposite end to give his team another opportunity to make the NCAA Finals and bag that elusive title last seen in Shaw Boulevard’s parts in 1972.

After both teams went scoreless for almost four minutes midway through the fourth quarter, Hayes drove the lane for an off-balanced lay up to make it 50-47 for his side. At the 1:33 mark, he received the re-post from teammate Alex Almario and he buried a fadeaway jumper over the Cardinals’ Erwin Cornejo.

Hayes, who was recently selected 21st overall in the recent PBA Draft by Alaska, then stopped Mapua on the defensive end. First, forced a jump ball then stole the ball from Cornejo. Hayes’ teammate, Cameroonian center Joe Etame, finished off the Cardinals with six points in the final 50 seconds to give their side some breathing room at 58-51. After a triple by Mapua’s Jonathan Banal, Almario sank two more free throws to close out the scoring to send JRU to the next round of the Final Four.

"Ayoko pa matapos 'to," said an exuberant Hayes after the game who hopes to join the Aces in the newly opened PBA first conference. "Syempre sana makatapos ng college na may championship."

Etame scored 17 points while Almario added 10. Hayes added eight points and eight rebounds. "He really stepped up for us," said victorious JRU head coach Vergel Meneses.

The Cardinals’ Cornejo and TG Guillermo, both playing their final NCAA game led the fight with 16 and 13 points respectively. Jonathan Banal added 11 markers but Mapua's other graduating player Macky Acosta suffered through a miserable shooting day and finished with only two points.

The 13-4 Heavy Bombers will play second seed and defending champions San Sebastian College Recoletos this coming Friday at 2pm at the San Juan Arena for the right to play tournament favorite San Beda who by virtue of their 16-0 sweep of the eliminations is just waiting for their finals opponent.

"Every time I played Baste laging 1-1," reminisced Meneses of his playing days. "Ngayon 0-2 kami pero baka makasilat."

Said Mapua head coach Chito Victolero, "I'm not really that disappointed. Of course, I want to say that we'd like to move on but we did better this year and made the Final Four. We improved from our record last year (6-12 for sixth place in the ten-team standings). JRU made good stops while we were not able to take care of the ball and make our own shots in the end. We will have to come back better from this." The Heavy Bombers took the season series from the Cardinals going 3-0.

Jose Rizal University 60 – Etame 17, Almario 10, Hayes 8, J. Lopez 7, Njei 4, Matute 4, Kabigting 4, Badua 2, Apinan 2, Montemayor 2, Bulangis 0.

Mapua Institute of Technology 54 – Cornejo 16, Guillermo 13, Banal 11, Mangahas 6, Sarangay 2, Pascual 2, Parala 2, Acosta 2, Ighalo 0.